


Exposed

by Viridian5



Category: Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place
Genre: Episode Related, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-05-22
Updated: 1999-05-22
Packaged: 2017-10-02 09:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viridian5/pseuds/Viridian5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pete takes advantage of Berg.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exposed

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for "Two Guys, a Girl and Barenaked Ladies." Grrr! First they stole my brimstone comment on Ashley, then they revealed something about Berg that seriously screwed up the profile I had for him. But I am strong, and I shall adjust...
> 
> Read-through by ChAngel, who said, "We approve. You can continue living."

"How do you develop an abject terror of _moths_?"

"Pete."

"Do you have two, terrible middle names: Eugene _and_ Leslie?"

"Pete!" Berg curled tighter around himself.

Pete grinned. "It's not so bad crying over _Bambi_. I always cry over _Old Yeller_."

"Everyone cries over _Old Yeller_."

"I don't think Ashley does. She probably sees dog as the other white meat."

"Maybe." Berg shuddered, making Pete wonder for the thousandth time what kind of demonic hold Ashley had on him.

"This is all your own fault, you know."

Berg looked up from where he was wedged in the corner of the couch, a spark of anger replacing the misery. "Since when is it okay to blame the victim?"

"You're the one going out with Satan in human form. You're the one who's so whipped that you threw Sharon to her as a human sacrifice just so you wouldn't have to say 'no' to her. And why the hell did you tell Sharon all these things about yourself anyway?"

"She was insistent; I was vulnerable and stupid."

"Man, I wish I could have seen you in high school."

"All right, I stuttered! It's not that uncommon."

Jackpot? "No one told me you stuttered."

Berg made a little whimpering sound and knocked his head against the back of the couch. He put his hands over his eyes and folded in tighter. He looked so cute...

Pete was amazed by the surge of protectiveness he felt. Sure, Berg often needed to be saved from himself, but this was different. Pete sat down close to him, fascinated by the vulnerable kid that had been hiding under that smooth Teflon exterior for so many years.

"Why would you tell Sharon you used to stutter?"

"I didn't! But I was so upset that I forgot I didn't, and it slipped out to Ashley."

"You really have a deathwish."

"Job-hunting makes you mean." Berg sounded about three years old.

"Nope. Having Ashley around does. You know, because of her I'm discovering a core of evil I didn't even know I had. I kind of like it."

"Bully for you." Berg looked away.

Did it make Pete sick that it attracted him seeing Berg this way? He used his fingers to gently card his roommate's soft hair; you could always distract Berg into a better mood by touching him. "You're so verbal. I can't imagine you not being able to get words out."

Berg breathed a little easier. "That's good that you can't."

"What, you were afraid you might start stuttering again if I knew about it?" Pete hugged him in close when Berg tried to pull away. "Oh my God, you are. It's not going to happen. It would stun me to hear you stutter." Pete rubbed noses with him. "Tell me about it?"

Berg fought down the little smile Eskimo kisses always inspired in him and sighed. "I was working on it through high school, but everyone expected me to stutter so much that I couldn't stop myself. They knew me for years. So I made sure college would be different. I went far away from anyone familiar with me, worked hard on it all through the summer."

Pete stroked his back. "How did you get through the college interviews?"

"With my grades? I couldn't talk, but my test and homework scores were through the roof. For a lot of schools, I could have danced on the admissions desk naked, and they would have admitted me."

"Distracting me won't work."

Berg stuck out his tongue, but it didn't have the same oomph as usual. "Anyway, it worked. You can't have any idea what it's like to suddenly be able to make your wants known. People were deciding and assuming things for me all my life because I couldn't tell them different. Suddenly, I was breezing through life. I'd succeeded in making myself into a whole new person: confident, daring. Good with the chicks."

"Is college when you started with the whole 'Berg' thing?" At Berg's long-suffering look, Pete protested, "I just want to know! Hey, is that why you pause in the middle of so many of your sentences?"

"I do not... _pause_ in the middle of my sentences!"

"Sorry." Pete nuzzled Berg's neck. He was damned _cute_...

"You're getting off on this!"

"So could you, if you want to." Before Berg could protest, Pete said, "But you're always so good and quick with words."

"Pete, I had years to store up my wit."

It boggled the mind. The Berg Pete had first met in college had been so smooth, daring, devil-may-care, extroverted, charming. Fearless and casually arrogant. A great dancer, incredible student, and hot sex object with no effort. He did dead-on vocal impressions and preformed for a crowd as if born to it. But now more than just the unusual pauses made more sense. Even into his senior year, Berg had tended to say everything that was on his mind, appropriate or not, with no editing. It was understandable if he'd barely been able to speak a word for years prior.

Sometimes Berg could be a little too smooth, so much so you couldn't get a hold on him.

This vulnerable Berg, who trembled slightly in his arms as they kissed, shields down, would be nice to see once in a while, though he wished it hadn't been revealed through personal pain. Pete wanted to kill Sharon and Ashley. He wanted to tell Berg how much he admired him for overcoming what must have been a near crippling obstacle and for achieving so much. Pete wanted to tell him that he was still Berg, no different than he'd been before everything had come out.

The even greater surge of lust Pete felt amazed him, and his stroking and kissing became more insistent. Berg made the most wonderfully incoherent sound against Pete's mouth and arched.

Pete would tell him later.

### End


End file.
